It’s the boys’ turn

HARTINGTON — Cedar Catholic doesn’t have the best record in the Class C2 Elite Eight field.

The Trojans don’t have the top scorer. They don’t have the top rebounder, and don’t have the staunchest defense.

They do, however, have a roster full of talented athletes and a desire to succeed.

The Trojans will get their first State Tournament test Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. when they tip off against Freeman at Lincoln Northeast High School.

Cedar Catholic coach Matt Steffen said his team is ready for the challenge.

“We have been playing really solid defense,” Steffen said.

A win would give Cedar a potential opportunity to play top-seeded Grand Island Central Catholic in a 6:15 p.m. Thursday contest.

WYNOT —A two-year absence from the state tournament was enough of a break from the big time for the Wynot Blue Devil boys basketball team.

So, they put on their playing shoes and put together a 55-40 beating of Wallace in the District final last week.

With that, the Blue Devils (19-7) get ready for a return engagement in the state field when they tip things off at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Lincoln East High School as the No. 6 seed taking on No. 3 Humphrey St. Francis (20-4).

It will be a rematch of an earlier match-up that saw Wynot win 51-40.

“It was a dose game throughout,” Wynot head coach Lee Heimes said of the first meeting. “They are a very good team. They are a very good defensive team in their 1-3-1 zone. They are very athletic and well coached. All the teams that made it here are good teams. We have played two of them and have beaten both. I think it is an open field with no dominant team. The team that plays good defense and makes some shots can go on a run.”

The other team the Wynot boys vanquished this season is No. 1 seed St. Mary’s (22-2) putting more merit to Heimes talk of being able to win the crown.

A win would place Wynot in the semifinals at 11:15 a.m. Thursday against either No. 2 Mullen or No. 7 Falls City-Sacred Heart.

Wynot’s Owen Sudbeck took in the moment of being at a state tournament when he followed the girls to Lincoln. It gave him the optimism to think the Blue Devils could do something with this ticket

“It is huge and exciting — the community is loving it,” Sudbeck said. “It’s different for a change because usually it’s the girls always making it down here.

Sudbeck said the team has really come together as of late.

“We’re playing together as a team more and we have a different style of defense this year and teams aren’t usually used to that,” he said.

Sudbeck said the team’s defensive approach now is predicated on keeping scores low and turning the game into a grind.

“Our motto all year has been ‘defense wins championships,’ which is different than in other years,” he said. “Everyone is putting in a lot of effort and work in practice. We want to put in all the time and effort we can looking for the best outcome.”

Sudbeck admitted he wasn’t sure if the program would return to state after last doing so his freshman year.

“We’re seniors now and we had to step up because we realized we had to step up,” he said. “We played Humphrey once and we beat them, but this first game is nerve wracking, but I am excited to go out there and play it.”